Books from Denmark

KAREN STRANDBYGAARD has for many years worked with all kinds of communication and public relations. She has many years of experience teaching both leaders and employees in verbal and written communication.

March 2016 CopenhagenI still do not understand why you were so scared.Do you have children? Yes.Is that not explanation enough?

The language is vivid and easy read... The plot keeps the reader captured from start to finish - you simply have to find out what happens to the family and how... It’s a hot debut that holds promises of future releases and at the same time it is a breath of fresh air on the Danish literary sky

— Book Nerd

BY KAREN STRANDBYGAARD

Don't Look Away

A MOMENT OF INATTENTION IS ALL IT TAKES

Anna is on her way to Thailand on holiday with her husband and their two kids. They are looking forward to just being together and trying to slow their lives down. But things get complicated as Anna is afraid of just about everything, and it has only gotten worse after she became a mother.

They have just arrived when Anna is convinced that somebody is out to get Maria, their ve-year-old twin daughter. And she is the only one who can prevent it. But this means she cannot let the kids out of her sight for a second. Meanwhile Anna’s husband thinks it’s all in her head, and that they should just relax and enjoy their holiday. But what if he is wrong and Anna is right?

Don’t Look Away is a domestic noir novel about a mother’s anxiety, a taboo topic in a world where the ideal mother is both brave and relaxed about her kids playing around freely. Her anxiety does not only destroy her peace of mind –the whole family and their environment is affected by it. This is not something that is discussed in society either.

The author remarks: “The birth of a child, is also the birth of an anxiety. The responsibility that follows with motherhood can be overwhelming (...)"

To many women the fear of harming their children and not taking care of them properly has a strong presence. Anna is an extreme example, of course, but many mothers will be able to identify with her fear of everything from her kids getting run over to her not being around enough for them. Some may even feel provoked by Anna’s anxiety, because this is precisely the kind of feeling that we don’t want to engage with in our culture.”

Don’t Look Away is a thorough, empathetic and thoughtful portrayal of the concerns and biggest nightmares of parenthood.Karen Strandbygaard manages to portray the dynamics of the modern family from a different angle, which indirectly raises the question of how much parents are able to protect their children and how much control they can and should have, or whether they just need to relax a little more.And especially – the question of the suffering this dilemma brings into parenting.

— Politiken

Angst eats up the soul. Good and exciting debut novel.The author has an eminent ability to describe Anna’s anxiety in a way that creeps under your skin, and the reader understands Anna’s fear and starts anticipating that her black prophecies might come true. There are small allusions to an epilog, which helps increasing the intensity and the premonitions, but the story is really well written, and the tension in the short story is just perfect.